


Sometimes It's Good to Step Out of One's Comfort Zone

by TheTwilightDragon



Series: The Future is Looking Bright [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky
Genre: Alternate Future, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen, Of The Video Game Protagonist Kind, Self-Insert, Spoilers, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:33:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25052455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTwilightDragon/pseuds/TheTwilightDragon
Summary: I never thought I’d write a café fic. Then I read the Terms and Conditions of Pokemon Café Mix.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: The Future is Looking Bright [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814506
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Sometimes It's Good to Step Out of One's Comfort Zone

**Author's Note:**

> After finally finishing Explorers of Sky (which happened after the Demo of Rescue Team DX got me in the Mystery Dungeon mood, that's how recent this development is) I was inspired to write about the new future (while ignoring the last special episode, though that timeline can exist concurrently with this one).
> 
> Naturally, instead of writing the thing roughly sequentially, I wrote _this_ first, mentioning pretty much every major revelation I've planned. But whatever, they're revelations to the characters rather than the readers anyway.

“Another order of salad, with Pecha berry juice!” Totodile shouts from the counter.

“Got it!” I mark the order down as I turn to my long-time partner. “Did you hear that, Grovyle?”

“I did, but they’ll have to wait. I still have the previous orders to make.” Grovyle says, elbow-deep in berries.

I grab another glass, filling it. “I’m going to make another batch of Oran juice, we’re running out of it. I have no idea how Spinda can handle this many customers…”

“He probably doesn’t,” Dusknoir notes as he arrives through the back wall. “We’re almost out of ingredients. He surely left enough for the usual amount of business the café sees.”

The rest of us pause to stare at him. “We’re out of ingredients?! Oh no no no! What are we going to _do_?” I _promised_ Spinda his café would be in good hands while he was away visiting his family!

“ _Almost_ out,” Dusknoir answers. “I’ll go get more, you keep the place going.”

“Wait, it’s faster with two!” Celebi shouts suddenly. “Grovyle, go with Dusknoir.” Because Grovyle is the fastest of us _and_ more experienced than Totodile. Celebi rushes to the front. “Totodile, go help with the food, I’ll take orders now.” There’s no time to argue. Grovyle leaves immediately, Totodile replacing him in the kitchen.

“But why would there be such a rush now of all times?” Totodile wonders aloud.

“I know, right? Must be really bad luck on our part…” I answer her even as I start chopping apples.

“It may not actually be a coincidence,” Dusknoir muses, having just brought out the rest of the ingredients in the storage room.

“Oh?” I ask, my eyes on my work.

“The different staff does bring a sense of novelty. Especially with a human involved.”

“Not to mention your reputation,” Totodile adds.

“Um, hate to interrupt, but it’s definitely you, specifically,” Celebi calls to us.

That sounds… worrying. Dusknoir hands me the tray filled with plates and glasses as I make my way to the front.

She’s right, of course. The place is _packed_ , and not just because of the number of pokemon. There’s the usual lot, of course, locals and some explorers from farther away. But the rest…

That’s a lot of _really old_ pokemon. As in, old enough to have met the… the other me. And a lot of them are kind of huge. In fact, I don’t think they’d all even fit into the café normally. Palkia must be discreetly warping space.

Still, I’ve no time to waste. I serve the orders of Illumise and Vespiquen (a local couple I’m on friendly terms with), a quilava I’ve never seen before that’s openly staring at all the living legends present, and…

“Can’t say I expected to see you here, DiaDia,” I remark upon reaching the final customer with a completed order.

“I HEARD YOU WOULD BE WORKING HERE AND WISHED TO WITNESS IT MYSELF,” DiaDia answers. “HOWEVER, HAD I KNOWN I’D BE INCREASING SUCH WORKLOAD I’D HAVE RECONSIDERED.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. We’re busy, but it’s the good kind of busy.” Too busy to stay and chat, even if I’m interested in finding out how the knowledge I’d be working here managed to spread so far so fast. A lot of these pokemon live in the far reaches of the world, hardly the kinds of places you’d hear the latest gossip in. At least I can return all the greetings I get while heading back to the kitchen.

I return to find the next order flambeed to perfection, Numel having then moved on to boiling another kettle of tea. He’s undoubtedly good at doing his job without paying any attention to disturbances. I’m kind of jealous.

There’s no time for a break, not yet anyway, with Totodile calling my name and the next half dozen orders still unfinished.

I don’t regret offering to help Spinda out. This _is_ fun, in its own way, but I certainly wouldn’t want to do this every day.

At least I’m not alone.

I grin as Grovyle returns in record time with those much needed ingredients, even as Celebi calls out another order.

We can do this.

**Author's Note:**

> Also I don't even know if this is actually a café or rather a restaurant, but frankly I don't care at this point. Wrapping this up was a pain and coming up with a title was even more of one. At least I proved to myself I can, in fact, deal with the hard parts of writing if I just try.


End file.
